Orlando jumps out early, holds on late to down Hornets

NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Getting big leads lately is nothing new
to the Orlando Magic. Keeping them seems to be a different
story.

Dwight Howard scored 24 points and Rashard Lewis added 19 to
power the Magic to a 95-88 victory over the New Orleans Hornets
on Monday.

Orlando, which is the NBA's lone remaining unbeaten team on the
road at 7-0, has shown a knack of letting opponents back into
games once it jumps out to a sizeable lead.

The Magic led by as many as 20 points in Sunday's 104-102
victory over the previously undefeated Boston Celtics before
holding on late for the win.

"That's two nights in a row that we've let leads slip away,"
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I am concerned about it and
we've talked about it. But, at the same time, the NBA is a
48-minute game. Team are going to make runs. We have not
handled them well, and it's something we have to learn from."

After building a 44-23 advantage on a layup by forward Hedo
Turkoglu with 7:44 remaining in the first half, the Hornets used
11 points from Peja Stojakovic to key a 38-17 run over the next
12-plus minutes to take a 61-60 advantage with 6:30 remaining
in the third quarter.

"We got in a big hole right in the beginning of the game,"
Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "We just were not ready to play
and compete in the beginning. I think we kind of waited around
to see what kind of team they had."

The Hornets made their run despite the loss of starting center
Tyson Chandler, who left the game with a hyperextended right
knee late in the second period, and Chris Paul, who missed his
second consecutive game with a right ankle injury. Turnovers
played a hand in the comeback bid.

"They really took it to us after the first quarter," Van Gundy
said. "You can look at the score, but the Hornets deserve a lot
more credit tonight than we do. I did not think we played well
with 20 having turnovers. We played the game poorly, but kept
fighting.

"But, to be honest, the thing that helped us the most was Chris
Paul being out and Tyson Chandler being out for half the game."

In the decisive fourth quarter, the Hornets seized a 78-73
advantage with 6:17 to play on a layup by reserve forward Rasual
Butler.

The Magic battled back to take a 79-78 lead on a 3-point shot by
guard Jameer Nelson, and Orlando went ahead for good on a dunk
by Howard with 3:35 to play. From that point on, Nelson and
reserve Keyon Dooling each scored four points, and Lewis nailed
the last of his five 3-pointers to put the game out of reach.

"The main thing we did was that we didn't get frustrated and
blame somebody else," Howard said of the fourth quarter
comeback. "We get control of ourselves and every player looks
inside of himself. We are playing against some great teams and
in order for us to be a great team, we have to come up big in
situations like these."

"We are having a tough time closing games out," Nelson said.
"When we get leads, we need to build on our lead instead of
letting them get back into it."

It looked early as if the Magic would avoid such a fate.

After New Orleans opened the game with a 7-0 run, the Magic
dominated the remainder of the quarter, shooting 15-of-25 from
the field en route to a 33-17 lead at the end of the period.
Howard led the Magic with 10 points in the opening period and
Lewis chipped in with seven.

Stojakovic finished with 21 points and Jannero Pargo, who
started in place of Paul, added 18 for the Hornets, who lost on
the road for just the second time in eight tries.